San Onofre nuclear plant’s outage has caused barely a ripple in power supply; opinions differ on what future holds

Friends of the Earth, an international environmental and nuclear safety group, contends that changes to the generators warranted a quasi-judicial license amendment review, but that Edison decided against one in violation of regulations.

Public hearings and cross-examined evidence, the group contends, could have caught design flaws that now plague the generators.

Any restart plan, Friends says, should be subject to that review to assure mistakes are not repeated or compounded. That campaign has been endorsed by a growing list of local government entities — most recently the San Diego Unified School District.

Edison says it followed the rules in its evaluation of design changes, but has so far declined to share its evaluation with anyone but on-site government inspectors.

“The adverse condition that later resulted in a tube leak was a deficiency associated with the design and was not known at the time the evaluation was performed,” Edison wrote in a filing with the nuclear commission this month.

To evaluate the plan’s safety, nuclear safety regulators have assembled a special team of at least 20 technicians, based at a regional field office in Texas. Regulators have held discussions with Edison officials in a series of public forums.

WHO PAYS? THE ANSWER IS YEARS AWAY

As the nuclear outage drags on, utility owners of San Onofre (San Diego Gas & Electric has a 20 percent interest) are girding for a years-long confrontation over who will pay for costs associated with the sidelined plant.

Edison and SDG&E investors are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to devise and carry out repairs and pay for replacement power, expenses they will seek to pass on to ratepayers.

Utility customers continue paying at least $830 million a year to maintain and operate the idled plant, with some savings on nuclear fuel.

Claims already are pending against Mitsubishi, which manufactured the generators, and with the U.S. nuclear industry’s mutual insurance company in Delaware, the Nuclear Electric Insurance Ltd.

An investigation has been launched by state utility regulators that could ultimately lead to utility-bill rebates. Consideration also may be given to suspending rate collection for the plant — a rare occurrence across the industry.

Edison is urging the California Public Utilities Commission to delay any ratepayer refund until its next general rate case in 2015.

As an example of a methodical, deliberative decision, Edison has hearkened back to San Onofre’s original Unit 1 reactor, which was retired in 1992.

A steam generator leak discovered in 1980 was repaired at the expense of utility customers. A 75 percent rebate was approved, but not until six years later after hearings, investigations and then litigation between Edison and generator manufacturer Westinghouse, by Edison’s account.